The veteran rapper came out on top on the strength of his 12th studio album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. This year, Jay Z gave away one million copies of the album, purchased for $5 each by Samsung, to one million Samsung Galaxy owners, who had to download an app to snag a copy. The marketing stunt influenced the Recording Industry Association of America to "modernize" its 55-year-old certification process to immediately include digital sales.

To be eligible for a nomination, recordings had to be released between Oct. 1, 2012, and Sept. 30, 2013. Notable snubs include Miley Cyrus ("Wrecking Ball" and "We Can't Stop" were eligible, though Bangerz was not), Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber.

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